An Auckland lawyer was struck off after smuggling contraband into prison for her convicted murderer client - who she later married - has failed in a bid to relaunch her legal career.
But Davina Reid says she will appeal the rejection by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal - claiming the decision “reflects the inherent prejudice” it has “towards criminal barristers”.
She also claims there is prejudice against “any lawyer who is of Maori descent”.
Reid - then known as Davina Murray - was sentenced in the District Court to 50 hours’ community work after she was convicted of smuggling a cellphone, cigarettes, and a lighter to Liam Reid.
Lawyer Davina Murray arrives at the Auckland District Court. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Liam Reid is serving a life sentence for raping and killing deaf woman Emma Agnew in Christchurch in 2007, as well as the rape, attempted murder, and robbery of a 21-year-old student in Dunedin nine days later.
After Reid was convicted of the smuggling the Lawyers and Conveyances Disciplinary Tribunal at the time found she was no longer fit to practise law.
Earlier this year she told NZME she had applied to be restored to the roll of barristers and solicitors.
A hearing was held last month during which she told the tribunal she had worn a “cloak of shame” for long enough and should be allowed to practise law again.
Reid told the tribunal she felt being struck from the bar was “manifestly unjust” and that her offending was minor enough to be covered by the Clean Slate Act.
She was employed by Te Whānau O Waipareira - an Auckland-based Māori support service and said if she was readmitted to the bar she would become the organisation’s sole in-house lawyer.
The tribunal released its decision to Reid, who shared it with the Herald.
“Redemption is possible: the statutory provision permits restoration,” it said.
“In applications for restoration after strike-off, the Tribunal must make a predictive evaluation whether the applicant is now a “fit and proper person” to be admitted... Has the shadow passed?”
The Tribunal said it regarded Reid’s behaviour in delivering the items to the murderer in prison a “gross breach of trust”.
“And an abuse of her privileged position as a lawyer,” it said.
“Ironically, because Ms Reid professes a desire to advocate for the underprivileged, her breach has led directly to ongoing impediments for prisoners in accessing their lawyers.
“Lawyers are delayed in entering prisons because of search requirements. Clients and counsel are now generally separated by physical barriers in prison interviews.
“This is a significant negative consequence to the profession of lawyers and the clients whom they serve.”
Further, the Tribunal said the smuggling was not the first time Reid had been in trouble.
There had been “three other adverse disciplinary findings” before her conviction.
Her past conduct included “falsely accusing two Corrections officers of conspiring” to plant the items she had smuggled into prison on her now-husband.
“Something she knew was false, was reprehensible, especially for a lawyer,” said the tribunal.
“Two of her previous disciplinary issues arose around her intimate relationship with a different man.
“She acted for that man in relationship property proceedings but, when their intimate relationship ended, she communicated confidential information directly to his former wife - who was separately represented.
“That gave rise to the first charge from that relationship.
“The second relevant charge arose after that former partner committed suicide. She sent his estate a fees account for $67,500 whereas numerous texts and emails proved she had agreed to undertake the work without fee.”
The tribunal said it was “troubled” by Reid’s “pattern of failure to observe professional boundaries”.
“In her case before us, she did not address this disturbing pattern at all,” it said.
“We have no information on what insight she may have into this pattern, what steps she has taken to recognise triggers and how to avoid repetition.
“Another theme that troubles us in our evaluation of Ms Reid’s moral compass, namely her lack of candour.
“The avoidant features apparent in her attempts to minimise responsibility and punishment in the criminal case are echoed in her dealings with an Australian employer.”
Davina Murray was charged with smuggling an iPhone and other contraband items to high-profile murderer Liam Reid. Photo / NZ Herald
The tribunal revealed that between July and December 2017 Reid had employment as a Youth Worker at an organisation in Queensland, working with high-risk youth to ensure rehabilitation and integration into society.
She had informed the organisation that she had no convictions, and subsequently lost the job when her employer discovered her conviction.
“We are unimpressed with Ms Reid’s explanation, that she had assumed she only had to disclose any Australian convictions,” said the tribunal.
“In our view, it is obvious that the purpose behind the requirement to disclose would not be limited territorially. Ms Reid is an intelligent woman with the capacity to understand what was required.
“This 2017 lapse falls below the standard of integrity and candour that we would expect in a person who is fit and proper to be enrolled as a lawyer.”
The tribunal also addressed Reid’s submission that she had experienced racial discrimination and her conviction had been “blown out of proportion by the media” which had “exacerbated public scrutiny and contempt for her”.
“She also feels a strong sense of grievance that she has been discriminated against by the courts and the tribunal,” the decision stated.
“She described her treatment, for example, the refusal to discharge her without conviction, as ‘manifestly excessive’.
“She says she has suffered nine years of ‘being tortured and brutalised’.”
The tribunal said it was a “culturally and ethnically diverse panel with wide-ranging lived experience, conscious of varied social attitudes”.
“We are conscious of our country’s history of colonisation and the profound impact that continues to have on Māori today.
“There remains institutional racism as demonstrated, for example, in the racial disproportion in the prison population.
“We are aware of racism, and we are aware of the hurtful nature and effects of negative stereotypes and slights of the kinds Ms Reid has experienced.
“Nonetheless, we do not share Ms Reid’s view that, in the matters generally relevant to her striking-off, and the preceding criminal matters, she has received differential treatment from what another person would have received had they conducted themselves as she did.
“We accept that her sense of grievance is genuine but find it is mistaken in relation to these discrete matters.”
“Had others done as she did, we would expect similar outcomes... we find neither balanced nor evidential basis for her belief that she has been treated unfairly by the District Court, the High Court, or by the Tribunal when she was struck off.
Reid's attempt to get her legal career back has been unsuccessful. Photo / NZME
The tribunal said Reid was “yet unable to fulsomely acknowledge her wrongdoing” which was a barrier to “genuine remorse without which change is impossible”.
“Ms Reid cannot speak of the relevant past with candour. She attempts to minimise her wrongdoing,” the tribunal said.
“Although she said she admitted what she did was wrong, when asked why it was wrong, her answer focused mostly on the unfortunate consequences it had for her and her whānau.
“We are left with the view that she is mostly sorry about having been found out and called to account.”
The tribunal agreed that Māori, including wāhine Māori, are proportionally under represented in the legal profession and that Reid “has a passion to advocate for those she regards as underprivileged”.
“Her passion is genuine. If she were a lawyer, she would be at liberty to espouse any cause she chose so long as she conducted herself in a manner befitting the requisite fitness and propriety,” the tribunal said.
“But she cannot advocate as a lawyer unless she can satisfy the ‘fit and proper’ criterion.
“The harm she did to the reputation of the profession was grave.
“Although several years have elapsed since she was struck off, our evaluation, looking to the future, is that Ms Reid continues to lack genuine insight into those features that led to her plight.
“Her record of blurring professional boundaries, becoming over-involved with clients, blatantly disregarding the law, advancing untruth or obscuring the truth: blight her ability to satisfy us that she is now a fit and proper person to be re-enrolled.
“She has no real insight into her wrongdoing, continues to downplay it, and lacks compassion for those she has harmed through her shortcomings of character.
“We do not find that she has genuine remorse for what she did. Instead she demonstrates self-interest and regret for the damage she has caused herself and those near her.”
Further, the tribunal said Reid’s “relevant character defects are still profound”.
“Her marriage, and that comment, are irrelevant to our evaluation.”
Reid told the Herald she had instructed her lawyers to appeal the decision.
“The result reflects the inherent prejudice the tribunal has towards criminal barristers and particularly any lawyer who is of Māori descent,” she said.
“The diluted review of tikanga and its relevance to my application was abhorrent and sticking a token Māori on a primarily dominated Pāhekā bench, who also had no legal training; and then he then provides expert evidence about restorative justice which was an error not only in law, but in tikanga.
Tikanga is the right or correct way of doing things within Māori society - a system comprised of practice, principles, processes and procedures, and traditional knowledge.
She vowed to keep fighting to practise law despite the decision.
“And albeit another ad hominem assault on my mana, I have learnt that justice is available for the resilient, determined and for those that continue the good fight,” she said.
